Points of Interest
Visitors Center
The Visitors Center provides an excellent central starting point for all visitors to the U.S. Military Academy. The center offers historical and informational videos, parking, rest rooms, a gift shop, maps, pamphlets, a full-scale cadet barracks room, and a movie theater; arrangements for guided tours can also be made.
The original Visitors Center was officially opened May 1, 1952, in the field artillery sheds at the south end of post -- a site now occupied by the provost marshal’s office. The current Visitors Center, which opened September 1, 1989, on the site of the former Ladycliff College Library, continues to attract, educate and inform the public about the Academy and its environs. Nearly 3 million people visit West Point each year, including alumni, friends and families of West Point cadets, school groups, senior citizens groups, and tourists from throughout America and the world. The U.S. Military Academy is one of the top three tourist attractions in New York, according to the New York State Department of Tourism.The Visitors Center is open daily, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Call (845) 938-2638 for information. For guided bus tours, please contact (845) 446-4724. All adults taking the guided tour must produce photo identification.
The West Point Museum is located directly behind the Visitors Center. The museum is in the renovated Olmsted Hall at Pershing Center on the grounds of the former Ladycliff College. The grounds were purchased by West Point after the college closed in the early 1980s. The building is named after the museum's primary donor, Major General George H. Olmsted, Class of 1922.
The museum’s collections represent all major categories of military study from arms, cannon and artillery to uniforms, military art and objects reflecting West Point’s history. Originally opened in 1854, the West Point Museum is the oldest and largest military museum in the country. It contains some of our most interesting national military treasures and one of the finest collections of military small arms available for public viewing.Every American amed conflict is represented in the 135 exhibits. An additional gallery portrays the history of the United States Army during peacetime and its role as a formative nation builder of our country. West Point’s history during and after the Revolutionary War, as well as the institutional history of the Military Academy, are traced in the West Point gallery devoted to the school, the cadet and the officer. The museum also provides exhibits in Thayer Hall to support the Department of History cadet curriculum with exhibit themes which range from ancient to modern civilizations.
The West Point Museum is open daily, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Operating hours are 10:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. For additional information, call (845) 938-2203/3590.
Buffalo Soldier Field
(across the street from Hotel Thayer)
The athletic field, formerly called Cavalry Plain, was rededicated as Buffalo Soldier Field in 1973. It honors the African-American Army troops of the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry regiments who, during service on the western frontier, were called "Buffalo Soldiers" by their Indian foes. These soldiers were first assigned to West Point in 1907 in support of cadet riding instruction and mounted drill and remained here until they were deactivated in 1946.
This field is the home of the Army women's softball team and is also used for various intramural sports.
Herbert Alumni Center
Dedicated in June 1995, the James K. Herbert Alumni Center on Mills Road houses the Association of Graduates and Alumni Affairs offices, as well as the Association of Graduates Gift Shop.
Southeast Asia Memorial
(near the Lusk Reservoir dam)
The Southeast Asia Memorial's bronze plaque, inset in a granite boulder, dedicates the site to classmates of West Point's classes of 1960 through 1969 and other service members who fell in battle in Vietnam and other conflicts in the region.
Flight Memorial
(north of Lusk Reservoir)
In 1992, the Flight Memorial was completed and dedicated in memory of all graduates who have died in military flight. The memorial consists of a figure rising upward in a column of flames and smoke.
Also enclosed by a granite wall in this wooded glen is the Air Cadet Memorial. It was erected in 1945 by the USMA classes of 1943, 1944 and 1945 as a memorial to all air cadets who died while undergoing flight training. The monument is made of blue Westerly granite; the stepping stones to the memorial are bluestone. The artist for the statue is Walter Hancock, who also sculpted the MacArthur Statue.
American Soldiers Statue
(north of Lusk Reservoir)
In 1980, a statue of three American World War II soldiers was presented to the Academy and the Corps of Cadets by the classes of 1935 and 1936. It was dedicated "To The American Soldier" and became the first statue at West Point to honor our nation's enlisted personnel.
The nine-foot bronze sculpture was sculpted by Felix de Weldon, who also did the Iwo Jima Statue at Arlington National Cemetery.
Fort Putnam
Fort Putnam was one of many forts at West Point during the American Revolution.Built in 1778 by Colonel Rufus Putnam's 5th Massachusetts Regiment, it was the key fortification in the interlocking network of forts and redoubts making up West Point’s defenses. From this site, the Plain and approaches to the Great Chain could be protected. Originally a wood and earthen redoubt, Fort Putnam evolved into a stone fortification which stands today after restoration during the American Revolution Bicentennial in the 1970s. Exhibits in the West Point Museum fully explain Fortress West Point's crucial role in our War for Independence.
There is no charge to visit the fort, from which you can see most of West Point and the surrounding Hudson River Valley. The fort is only open for limited hours between May and September each year. Contact the West Point Museum at (845) 938-2203/3590 for available hours.Cemetery
The West Point Cemetery sits on a promontory, once known as "German Flats," on Washington Road overlooking the Hudson River and Constitution Island .
There are more than 6,000 men and women buried here. Included are those who died in virtually every armed conflict in which the United States has taken part.
Revolutionary War soldiers and local residents were buried here for several years before it was officially designated a military cemetery in 1817. The oldest grave, that of Ensign Dominick Trant, dates from 1782 and can be found in the oldest section of the cemetery in the northeastern corner. In this same section, a visitor will notice that there are many graves marked, "Unknown." These graves hold the reinterred remains of Revolutionary War soldiers and others who were buried in several plots around post, as well as the remains of those discovered during various building excavations over the years.
The history of the Academy itself can be seen in the 21 graves of former superintendents and in the resting places of many military, civilian and sports heroes in West Point history.
Generals Thayer, Custer, Scott, Buford and Clay are here, as are sports figures Michie, Bunker, Daly and Blaik. They lie forever side by side with professors, clergymen, astronauts, spouses and children.
You are encouraged to walk through the historic burial grounds; a helpful map is located inside the Old Cadet Chapel.
Old Cadet Chapel
(in the Post Cemetery)
Consecrated in 1836, the Old Cadet Chapel was originally constructed in the central area of the Military Academy. When Bartlett Hall was scheduled to be built on that site in 1910, the West Point alumni provided funds to preserve their cherished chapel. It was dismantled stone by stone and reconstructed at its present site at the edge of the West Point Cemetery, where a new entrance to the cemetery was added. The reconstruction was completed in 1911.
The chapel is now used for denominational services, weddings, memorial services and funerals of all faiths. The seating capacity is 450. The Old Cadet Chapel is one of five chapels on the Academy grounds and is one of the oldest buildings still in use at West Point.
Trophy Point
Trophy Point is among the most popular sites in the Hudson River Valley. The view to the north has been captured in paintings and photographs for the past two centuries. Memorials here commemorate many of our nation's military campaigns. It is perhaps the preeminent site at West Point where the past comes alive for graduates and visitors alike.
Great Chain
(at Trophy Point)
Links forming the Great Chain stretched across the Hudson River at West Point during the Revolutionary War and served as a key element in the area defenses. Used from 1778 to 1782, the 500-yard chain floated on logs and was designed to act as a barrier to enemy ships.
This was the second of two chains to be placed across the Hudson. The first was placed four miles below West Point between Fort Montgomery and Anthony's Nose, near the location of the present-day Bear Mountain Bridge.
Battle Monument
(Trophy Point)
Perhaps the most prominent and majestic monument at the Academy is the Battle Monument. It was dedicated in 1897 "in memory of the officers and men of the American Army who fell in battle," specifically the Regular Army casualties of the North during the Civil War.
Battle Monument was designed by an architectural engineering firm that included Stanford White, one of the nation's foremost architectural designers of the late 19th century. The shaft is reportedly the largest polished granite shaft in the Western Hemisphere. Some 2,230 names are inscribed on it. The figure at the top, "Lady Fame" or "Victory," was sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies, who also did the Nathan Hale statue in City Hall Park in New York City.
Sedgwick Monument
(near Trophy Point)
This memorial to Major General John Sedgwick from the members of his last command, the 6th Army Corps, was dedicated in 1868. Sedgwick was an 1837 USMA graduate who fought in many of the major battles of the Mexican War. During the Civil War Battle of the Wilderness, he rallied his soldiers to victory. Sedgwick was later killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864. His statue reportedly was cast from the Confederate cannon captured by his 6th Corps.
Legend holds that if a cadet is deficient in academics, the cadet should go to the monument at midnight the night before the term-end examination, in full dress, under arms, and spin the rowels on the monument’s spurs. With luck, the cadet will pass the test.
Kosciuszko Monument
(east of Trophy Point)
Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish artillery officer, provided vital assistance for the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga -- the turning point in the American Revolution. In 1778, he came to West Point and spent two years designing and overseeing the construction of the elaborate fortifications here.
The base pedestal of the monument was erected in 1828 by the Corps of Cadets. In 1913, the Polish clergy and laity of the United States added the statue of Kosciuszko.
Cullum Hall
Cullum Hall is a formal alumni memorial hall built in 1898 with a donation from Major General George Cullum, Class of 1833. It consists of a large ballroom on the second floor with a capacity of 700 persons and a formal room on the first floor that is used for receptions and ceremonies. Graduates of the Academy who have died in battle are memorialized on bronze plaques throughout the top two floors.
Doubleday Field
(east of the Plain)
Doubleday Field was named in 1939 in honor of Major General Abner Doubleday, Class of 1842. Doubleday is said to have laid out the first modern baseball diamond at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839.
Patton Monument
(across the street from the library)
General George S. Patton Jr. graduated from the Military Academy in 1909. He served as commander of the 7th Army in North Africa and Sicily in 1943 and of the 3rd Army, European Theater, from 1944-45.
The Patton Monument, designed by James Fraser, was "erected by his friends, officers and men of the units he commanded." It was unveiled by Mrs. Patton and subsequently dedicated in 1950.
Grant Hall
Grant Hall was constructed in 1931 on the site where the cadet mess stood for nearly 80 years. It is named after President and General Ulysses S. Grant, Class of 1843. It is used as a reception area for cadets and guests and contains paintings of America's five-star generals: Arnold, Bradley, Eisenhower, Marshall and MacArthur.
Eisenhower Monument
(on the Plain)
The nine-foot bronze statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower was sculpted by Robert L. Dean Jr., Class of 1953, and erected in May 1983 on a pedestal of red granite.
Eisenhower was a 1915 graduate of the Military Academy and served as President of the United States from 1953-1961. He is one of our foremost modern examples of a leader who successfully integrated the highest virtues of the American soldier with the fundamental tenets of our democratic society.
Washington Monument
(on the Plain)
Washington was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the first President of the United States and "the father of his country." In addition, he recognized the critical importance of the military position at West Point. He spent much time in this area, especially near the end of the Revolutionary War. He was among the foremost advocates of the establishment of a military academy.
This statue was sculpted by Henry Kirke Brown and unveiled in 1916.
MacArthur Monument
(on the Plain)
Douglas MacArthur, Class of 1903, compiled a distinguished record in American military history. His more notable contributions include command of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division in World War I; superintendency of the U.S. Military Academy; service as supreme commander of the southwest Pacific areas in World War II; his role as military governor of Japan after World War II; and his service as supreme commander of U.N. forces in Korea. In 1962, 40 years after he served as Superintendent, he returned to West Point to receive the Thayer Award. At that time, he delivered his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" speech, which was his lasting tribute to the ideals of this institution.
The statue was sculpted by Walter Hancock and dedicated in 1969 by General MacArthur's wife, Jean.
Quarters 100
One of the oldest buildings on post, Quarters 100 is designated for the Superintendent and his family. Previous occupants include Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur, Maxwell Taylor and William C. Westmoreland.
Thayer Monument
(on the Plain)
Sylvanus Thayer, Class of 1808, served as Superintendent from 1817-1833, the longest tenure in Academy history.
Known as the "father of the Military Academy," Thayer put his mark on this institution to a greater extent than any other individual. He strengthened the caliber of the faculty and quality of the academic instruction, brought discipline to the military environment and recognized the importance of instilling honor and integrity in cadets.
The Thayer Monument, erected in 1883, was sculpted by Carl Conrad 50 years after Thayer's departure as Superintendent.
Constitution Island
Constitution Island is located across the Hudson River from West Point. The first Revolutionary War fortifications in the West Point vicinity were located here. The British overran the positions in 1777, but the Americans returned in 1778 and made the island an integral part of Fortress West Point.
In the 1830s, the island was purchased by Henry Warner and became the home of his two daughters, Susan and Anna. The daughters were prolific writers and conducted Sunday school classes for West Point cadets for 40 years. Anna wrote the words for the hymn "Jesus Loves Me."
The island was donated to USMA in 1908; the Warner House and Revolutionary fortifications still stand and are available for tours. For reservations, call (914) 446-8676.
Hudson River
On July 30, 1998, Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera, Class of 1978, presided over ceremonies at West Point officially designating the Hudson River as an American Heritage River. The Hudson was one of 14 rivers nationwide selected by the Clinton administration for this honor.
